Using the ply table when defining a composite layup

When you are creating a composite layup (for a shell, continuum shell, or solid), you use a row in the ply table to enter information about a ply in the layup. The number of rows determines the number of plies in the layup, and the first row of the ply table corresponds with the ply on the bottom of the layup.

Related Topics
Specifying the display of selected plies of a conventional shell composite layup
Specifying the display of selected plies of a continuum shell composite layup
Specifying the display of selected plies of a solid composite layup

Each row of the ply table asks for the following:

  • Whether the ply is activated.

  • The name of the ply.

  • The region to which the ply is assigned.

  • The name of the material used in this ply.

  • The ply thickness.

  • The coordinate system specifying the reference orientation of the ply.

  • A rotation angle relative to the reference orientation.

  • The number of integration points in the ply, if you are specifying properties for a composite layup integrated during the analysis.

For general information about working with tables in Abaqus/CAE, see Entering tabular data.

As you enter ply data in the table, the ply region is highlighted and the ply orientation is displayed on the model in the viewport. You can modify the display to turn off highlighting, to display the layup orientation, or to select the orientation vectors to display.

In cases where Abaqus/CAE attempts to draw coordinate systems for ply orientations in composite layups at singularity points of the system (i.e., points for which the user-selected coordinate system and the geometric normal from either geometry or elements cannot be resolved into a valid orientation for display purposes in Abaqus/CAE), the coordinate system will be drawn collapsed.

If the layup orientation is specified using a discrete field, no display is available for either the layup or ply orientation. For continuum shell elements, Abaqus/CAE does not project the displayed orientations onto the midplane surface. In both of these cases, you can perform a data check and view the output database in the Visualization module to verify the orientations. For more information, see Performing a data check on a model.

A number of tools are available for adding or removing plies from the ply table. Most tools appear as icons above the ply table. Certain tools can be accessed only by clicking mouse button 3 on the ply table and selecting an item from the contextual menu that appears. The following tools are available:

Edit

Edit the contents of the selected table cell. For example, you can select a region from the part in the viewport, choose a material, or enter the thickness. In most cases you can select multiple cells, and Abaqus/CAE applies your change to each of the selected cells. You can select a column header to select the entire column.

The Edit tool is available from the contextual menu. Alternatively, you can double-click on a cell in the Region, Material, or CSYS columns to edit that cell. You can also double-click on a column header to apply the same edit to all of the cells in the column.

Move Plies Up or Down

Move the selected plies up or down one row in the ply table. Click to move the selected plies up one row, or click to move the selected plies down one row.

Copy Plies Before or After

Create new plies by copying the selected plies before or after the selected plies. Click to copy the selected plies before the selected plies, or click to copy the selected plies after the selected plies.

Insert Row Before or After

Insert an empty row before or after each of the selected plies. Click to insert an empty row before the selected plies, or click to insert an empty row after the selected plies.

Delete Plies

Delete the selected plies. Click to delete the selected plies.

Pattern Plies

Copy selected plies using a pattern. Click to pattern the selected plies.

The location to which the patterned plies are copied can be either the first or last ply in the layup or the first or last ply from the selected plies. You can also specify the copy location by selecting the name of the ply below which to copy. If you select the name of the ply below which to copy, you can choose to insert the copied plies into the ply table or to overwrite any existing plies.

The pattern can be one of the following:

N-Copy

A specified number of copies of the selected plies.

Symmetry

A single copy of the selected plies. The plies that are copied are reordered so that the order of the original plies and the order of the copied plies is symmetric about the specified location.

Invert Plies

Invert the order of two or more selected adjacent plies. Click to invert the order of the selected plies.

Read From File

Read ply data from an ASCII file. The data can be delimited with spaces, tabs, or commas. You can specify into which row and column of the ply table Abaqus/CAE should start to read the data. The first column of the table is the state of the suppression (true or false).

The Read From File tool is available only from the contextual menu.

Note:

The data in the Region column of the file refers to a named set in your part. The name of the region is case-sensitive. Therefore, the name of the region that you use in the file must be identical to the name of an existing set in your part. The same is also true for the data in the CSYS column—the name of the coordinate system that you use in the file must be identical to the name of an existing datum coordinate system in your part.

Write To File

Write the entire ply table to a specified file. Abaqus/CAE uses commas to delimit the data.

The Write To File tool is available only from the contextual menu.

The options that are available are context sensitive; for example, the icon and the Move Plies Up option in the contextual menu do not appear if you are editing the first row of the ply table.